


This Black Sun Revolved (Around You)

by alexenglish



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Character Study, Emotional Manipulation, Episode Related, M/M, Mental Instability, Past Abuse, Self-Doubt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-28
Updated: 2016-01-28
Packaged: 2018-05-16 20:53:42
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,101
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5840617
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alexenglish/pseuds/alexenglish
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Scott knows that he shouldn’t. He shouldn’t seek Theo out. He shouldn’t go to Theo alone. He shouldn’t confront Theo. There’s no reason to do this, it doesn’t matter. It doesn’t change anything, but Scott does it anyway, because he can’t help himself.</p>
            </blockquote>





	This Black Sun Revolved (Around You)

**Author's Note:**

> inspired by [Eli's post](http://theodoreraeken.tumblr.com/post/138180788725/you-know-as-a-buffy-fan-i-never-really-thought) and the [new promo](http://finnpoe.tumblr.com/post/138167952720).

Scott knows that he shouldn’t.

He shouldn’t seek Theo out. He shouldn’t go to Theo alone. He shouldn’t confront Theo. There’s no reason to do this, it doesn’t matter. Anything Theo says doesn’t change the fact that he took everything from Scott.

His confidence, his pack, his _life_.

It doesn’t change anything, but Scott does it anyway, because he can’t help himself. It’s a reflex to want to talk to Theo at this point. He doesn’t really understand why, knows it’s a weakness. Theo got into Scott’s head by being the only one that he could confide in, and he’s still so obviously in Scott’s head.

 _Isolation_ , his mind supplies, a control tactic used by abusers in order to be the one sought after for conflict resolution. It didn’t occur to him how susceptible he is to emotional manipulation, but when he thinks about it: his dad, Peter, Derek… Stiles. Now Theo.

Theo, who apparently knows exactly where Scott’s head is at, and texts him first: _locker rooms, after 7th_.

The rest of the day is lost in a fog of anxiety until Scott makes it to the deserted locker rooms. The scene is familiar, Theo waiting with his backpack, broad back to Scott. How many times have they met like this in the short time they’ve known each other?

Theo turns when Scott inhales, cataloging scents and chemosignals. There’s nothing abnormal there, but Scott knows not to trust it.

He can’t trust anything about this.

“Hey,” Theo says. It’s that casual tone that’s the most infuriating. The way everything seems like a normal conversation. That makes Scott want to rage, but he doesn’t, just holds the feeling inside his chest.

“Why do you want to help?” Scott asks, there’s no point delaying the real reason why they’re there. Theo smirks at him, and the anger surges in Scott’s chest.

“I told you every you need to know, Scott,” Theo says everything softly. His own name drips like molasses down his spine, pools at the base of it. _Speak softly.._. 

No one ever gave that to him. His dad was always loud, grating, like pots and pans banging, like a screen door in a hurricane. Peter couldn’t stop yelling, demanding. Derek’s voice was always raised in the beginning, accompanied by fangs and the implication that Scott was less than everyone else around him because he wouldn’t _yield_. 

Stiles is yelling. Always yelling.

Theo speaks low.

It’s like he knows that’s what Scott needs. Like the easiest way to get him to submit is to be gentle, offer to help hold Scott up. It’s pitiful that it’s all Scott has ever wanted and _this_ is the person who’s giving that to him. The same person whose claw marks he carries on his belly.

Maybe they’ll scar, a permanent reminder of just how low Scott McCall can get. Just how alone. Just how weak.

“We have a common enemy, we can help each other,” he says, after Scott doesn’t answer him. He looks and sounds so sincere. Scott is so angry, it feels like a live fire inside of his chest.

“Then what?” Scott asks, keeping his voice steady, wondering if Theo can tell it’s a front, if he knows how much Scott wants to shake apart and lose control. “What about afterwards? After the temporary alliance?”

“What do you want me to say, Scott? I’ll try to kill you again?” Theo is watching him, making eye contact, he won’t look away. When he finally does he sighs, and drops his bag on the bench behind him. “I won’t.”

“Am I supposed to believe you?” Scott asks, a growl underneath it. Theo smirks at him, eyes flashing deceptively yellow. That’s a front too, a reminder. If Theo was a real werewolf, his eyes would be electric blue. Like Peter, like Derek. Maybe like Stiles, if Stiles ever got the bite; his guilt burning out the gold.

“I won’t,” Theo says, pushing more conviction into his voice. “I don’t want you dead. I tried and I failed.”

“So you’re done?” Scott asks, frowning. There’s absolutely no way he’s telling the truth. None.

“I’m done and I’m sorry for killing you, it was _wrong_ ,” Theo says, watching Scott, always watching. His voice dips impossibly lower, like the apology is private, like he’s confessing a secret. There’s a smile playing on his lips. 

Scott laughs. It hurts his lungs.

“You’re the only person who’s said that,” Scott admits. Liam wants to _show_ him, and Stiles… isn’t going to say anything. He’s just not. That flame of hope flickered out in the desert, watching the lightning gather over the rocks where Kira was. 

Stiles didn’t say anything. Scott put that next to everything Stiles has neglected to mention and sealed the door tightly. It’s a part of him that he never needs to examine.

“That’s because your pack isn’t as close as you like to pretend you are,” Theo says, with a dismissive shrug. 

“We were fine, before you came along,” Scott says, sharper than he means to.

“Were you? Were you _really_? All I did was plant some doubt and you all came crumbling down.”

Scott can’t really argue with that.

“I let you in,” he says, because he has to. Because he could keep skirting the issue, but he’s tired. He’s tired and he’s pissed and he hates that his voice is obviously shaking, but he can’t take it. The pressure is swelling inside of him and he needs to relieve it, needs to cut open the flesh to accommodate the inflammation. “I _let you in_.”

“That was _your_ mistake,” Theo says, sharply. Scott hears Stiles’ voice. The accusation, lack of trust. _A miscommunication_ , he reminds himself. It doesn’t help.

“What else was I supposed to do?” Scott says, tightening his grip on his backpack, straps folding and creaking in his grip. “Ignore you when you needed help? A pack?”

Everything feels raw, chaffing. He doesn’t let himself get this vulnerable, because he can’t. He’s always the one to shoulder the burden, help keep people up. Opening up his insecurities for anyone means that they have to carry some of that, and he can’t do that to _anyone_. 

But Theo. 

Theo’s been conditioning him to be honest. Every talk like this in the locker room, about the Dread Doctors, about Kira. Every walk they took between classes. Every time Scott admitted to Theo that he was lost, that he felt the pack slipping. 

Theo became his confidant, more than anyone else, took it upon himself to be that for Scott. Theo took his vulnerability and pried him open, shoved his hands inside of Scott and tore out all his inner workings. He tapered with Scott, and Scott doesn’t know how to fix it.

“You did exactly what I wanted Scott,” Theo says, unrestrained glee in his voice, written all over his face. “Why are we entertain ideas of _what if_. You did exactly what I wanted and the only reason I didn’t win was because Liam didn’t finish it.”

“Do you seriously think they would have followed you?” Scott asks. They weren’t really a pack, not as whole and unshakable as they could have been, but the idea that they would actually _follow Theo_ is unthinkable. 

“It wouldn’t have mattered,” Theo says, dismissively. “I would have been the alpha.”

“You don’t think they would have tried to stop you?”

“It wouldn’t have mattered!” Theo says, again. A little louder, a little less patient. If the layers get peeled back, he’s made of the same material as everyone else. Uncontrollable rage contained inside human skin. His dad, Peter, Derek, Stiles, Theo.

“I could have helped you,” Scott says, softly, dropping his voice back down. He doesn’t… he doesn’t want this to escalate, he’s sick of things escalating. He’s tired. The violence doesn’t suit him, has never suited him, but his very nature invites it. 

“How?” Theo demands, voice a snarl. 

“I don’t know, but we could have figured it out,” Scott says, firmly. “We have resources, it’s what we _do_.”

They help people. They could have helped Theo.

“You couldn’t even figure out that I lied to you, Scott,” Theo says. “You were fighting so hard to pretend like things were _normal_ as your pack got further and further away from you, that you were _blind_ to what was happening under your nose.”

Scott hears Derek’s voice in those words, tries not to bow in on himself.

“You used me,” Scott says, keeping his voice from shaking. “You used me, and now you want my help. You took everything from me, and now you want _my help_.” 

Theo’s just staring at him, smirk gone from his face.

“Technically, I want your pack’s help. What’s an alpha without his pack?”

“Still an alpha,” Scott says, letting his eyes flare red, letting the wolf bleed through just a little. It feels good, better than he wants it to.

“Not a very good one.”

“Fuck you,” Scott snarls, unable to contain himself. Insecurities are already slamming around the forefront of his mind, he doesn’t need this, he doesn’t need _Theo_. 

“Getting mad yet?” Theo asks, baring his teeth. He knows Scott is, has to be able to feel it thrumming between them. Scott’s never had that bloodthirsty desire to _maim_ , not since his first few full moons, but it feels like he could make an exception in this moment, for Theo. 

“Fuck _you_ ,” Scott repeats. 

“You think you’re _better than me_?” Theo asks. It’s quiet, but so obviously violent. “You think because you’re a real alpha, you’re better than me? Because you’re a real werewolf?”

“It doesn’t have to matter!” Scott says, noise level jumping. He wants to pull every word back into his throat, but he can’t. “It wouldn’t have mattered. Not that you were a chimera, not that you were with them. If you had just asked. Things could have been different!”

“Nothing can be different,” Theo says, stepping closer. It takes everything in Scott not to take a step back, but he refuses to move. He’s not a little kid hiding from an alcoholic. He’s not a newly turned werewolf, terrified of everything around him. He’s not making exceptions because he loves someone in a gross, completely unhealthy way.

“I could have helped,” Scott says, again, ignoring the way that Theo is creeping closer. Every step he takes falls heavily against the floor like nails – literal nails in Scott’s coffin.

“You can’t give me power, Scott,” Theo says, voice honey-sweet again. Scott ignores the way he wants to tremble. “You can’t give me a pack, I already have one. You can’t give me anything that I can’t get myself –”

He’s in front of Scott now, so close that Scott can feel his body heat. His eyes flick down Scott’s body, and Scott’s stomach lurches almost painfully. 

“You can’t give me anything that I can’t _take_ myself,” Theo says, lying his hand against Scott’s sternum, where the bloody mess is lingering under his shirt. Smaller than before, but still there, still present.

Scott shudders, whimper escaping his throat. This is the control Theo has over him, the paralyzing fear. Everything comes to fruition here, all his doubts and insecurities – every time he wasn’t good enough (for his dad, for Derek, for Stiles), every time he failed (Peter, Gerard, Deucalion), every person he couldn’t save (Jackson, Allison, Aiden, Tracy, Josh, Corey, Hayden, Lydia… Theo) –

Now he’s backed into a corner and all he wants to do is collapse.

“You wanted it, didn’t you,” Theo says. They’ve backed up against the lockers, he’s hovering closer. “Death would have been easier than this, right? Your pack not trusting you, doubting you. Stiles hating you, blaming you.”

“He doesn’t –” Scott says, but Theo’s chuckle in his ear stops his words in his throat. They both know Scott doesn’t believe that. 

“We’re going to help each other,” Theo says, like he’s made up his mind. “Because I need you, and you need me. We’re going to work together. Then we’ll see what happens.”

Theo curls his hand around the back of Scott’s neck and pulls Scott’s head down so he can press their foreheads together, he nuzzles against Scott, almost affectionately. It’s pathetic how much Scott needs the touch, hairs on the back of his neck rising. 

“In the meantime, don’t forget,” Theo says, finally pulling back. He cups Scott’s cheek, molds his hand to Scott’s face. His palm is warm, smile going sweet again. “I’m here because of you. _You_ let me in.”

That’s not something Scott is going to forget.

**Author's Note:**

> [queerlyalex](http://queerlyalex.tumblr.com/)


End file.
